Infinite meaning within
soma-significance & active information
Contrary to mainstream thinking David Bohm proposed the inherent presence of meaning in each possible thing/process, from the very big to the very small. Hence meaning is not seen as a subjective matter (although this personal meaning-giving may be part of the meaning as a whole of the process considered). In other words, every process has meaning in and of itself, even if nobody is around to see or discern it, simply because of its physical/somatic presence(!).
Soma or the physical/material aspect of things is seen as always having meaning (at least potentially, if not actually), within the present context of the greater whole that it is part of.
Elevating meaning to something essential in all things, Bohm introduced the concept of soma-significance: there is an undivided flow of meaning happening, i.e. in each process we can discern a more material, physical side and a more subtle, mental-like side. It is proposed that out of the somatic pole meaning flows toward the more subtle levels (= soma-significant flow) and that from the more subtle pole meaning flows toward the more physical levels (= signa-somatic flow).
Example
Soma-significance clearly does away with the mind-body duality and the so-called hard problem of consciousness.
meaning = significance, purpose, value, intention, action, …
soma = the material aspect, all physical matter
On the level of physics, meaning –Â which can also be called active information in that domain-Â gets the same status as energy and matter.
Because of the creative and changing nature of holoflux, which is per definition an indefinite, ever-changing context, meaning is always bound to remain ambiguous. This also applies to the meaning of meaning.
This ambiguous feature of reality is also quite apparent when exploring art and creativity.
Qi/ki can be considered as a subtle energy/information field, a link that Bohm actually made at one point*.
Note
This proposed omnipresence of meaning does away with the need for separate meaning-making in thought; meaning is part of the prereflexive, preverbal realm and can be sensed, felt, intuited, …
Generative imagination can actually bring it out more clearly and make it more prominent in everyday reality.
As an example, consider a very young child, to whom bright objects have always signified goodness, happiness, pleasant excitement, etc., in which are implied a disposition to reach out and take hold of such objects. Suppose now that for the first time the child encounters a fire, and acts according to its habitual disposition. It will burn itself and withdraw its hand. The next time the child sees a fire, the initial disposition to reach out for it will be inhibited by the memory of the pain. When action is thus suspended, the mental energy in the intention to act will tend to go into the calling up of images of previous experiences with such objects. These will include not only images of many pleasing bright objects, but also the memory of the fire, which was pleasing when experienced far enough away but painful in the experience of contact. In a way, these images now constitute a new level of somatic form, resembling that of the original objects, but of a more subtle nature. This form is, as it were, ‘scanned’ or surveyed from a yet deeper and more subtle level of inward activity.
We emphasize again that in such a process, that which was previously the meaning (i.e. the images and their significance) is now being treated as a somatic form. The child can operate on this form, much as it can operate on the forms of ordinary Objects. Thus, the child is able to follow the image of the fire, as it gets closer and at a certain point it evokes a memory-based image of pain. Out of this emerges a new meaning, enabling the child to solve the problem of determining an appropriate relationship to the fire, without having to be in danger of burning itself again. In this new meaning, the fire is pleasant when the hand is far enough away and painful when it is too close. And a new disposition arises, which is to approach the fire more carefully and gradually, to find the ‘best’ distance from it. As the child engages in many similar learning experiences, there arises a still more subtle and more general disposition to learn in this way in approaching all sorts of objects. This makes for facility and skill in using the imagination in many different contexts to solve a wide range of problems of this general nature.
It is clear that this process can be carried to yet more subtle and more abstract levels of thought. In each stage, what was previously a relatively subtle meaning, can, as in the case of the fire, now be regarded as a relatively somatic form. The latter, in turn, can give rise to an intention to act on it. The energy of this intention is able then to give rise to an ever-changing sequence of images with yet more subtle meanings. This takes place in ways that are similar to those that took place with the image of the fire. Evidently, this process can go on indefinitely, to levels of ever greater subtlety. (The word ‘subtle’ is based on a root signifying ‘finely woven’, and its meaning is ‘rarefied, highly refined, delicate, elusive, indefinable and intangible’.)
Each of these levels may then be seen from the mental or from the material side. From the mental side it is an information content with a certain sense of meaning as a subtle virtual activity. But from the material side it is an actual activity that operates to organize the less subtle levels, and the latter thus serve as the ‘material’ on which such an operation takes place. Thus, at each stage, the meaning is the link or bridge between the two sides.
from “The Search for Meaning: The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy”, pp. 43-62 (1989)
meaning = being
being = meaning
From a Bohmian perspective, there is no separation between meaning and being.
On the human level, what and who we are is the sum of meanings we carry. Every action (or non-action) we take is a signa-somatic event. Our values, intentions, … determine our actions. We are what we mean, what we do is who we are, within the context we find ourselves in (past, present and future).
Likewise, a culture *is* its meaning. A cultural decline in vitality, flexibility and creativity will wear down the people in the culture, and vice versa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bohm’s approach a form of panpsychism?
No, it is rather a form of panprotopsychism, a sort of dual-aspect monism with movement as the fundamental entity and soma and significance as two indivisible aspects.